I’m not offended that the Dodgers had a little person in orange face dressed up like a leprechaun to sing the National Anthem before’s yesterday’s game with the Diamondbacks. But the way I see it, you gotta do one of two things here: either cut this kind of silly crap out and go with a taped, respectful orchestral performance of “The Star Spangled Banner,” or else you gotta stop making us stand up, take our hats off, put our beers down and pretend that this sort of thing is “honoring our nation.”

Buchholz, 33, was acquired by the Phillies from the Red Sox in December 2016, but he made only two starts before an MRI revealed he had a partial tear of his right flexor pronator mass. He underwent surgery in April and missed the rest of the season.